There are continuing efforts to develop new and improved load bearing surfaces. In the basic context of improving general load bearing surfaces, often it is desirable to improve durability in an inexpensive load bearing surface. In the context of seating and other body-support load bearing surface applications, often it is desirable to consider comfort issues as well. For example, with seating, it can be important to provide a surface that is comfortable and does not create body fatigue during periods of extended use. Given that the load characteristics such as stiffness, resiliency, force/deflection profile, desired in a particular surface will vary from application to application, it is also desirable to have a load bearing surface that is easily tunable during design and manufacture to provide load bearing surfaces that are optimized for different applications and uses.
It is known to provide molded load bearing surfaces for a wide variety of applications. For example, molded plastic chairs, such as lawn chairs, are available in a variety of forms. Although these molded surfaces provide an inexpensive option, they do not always provide the level of support and comfort available in more expensive load bearing surfaces, such as conventional cushion seats. To address the aforementioned limitations of molded loaded bearing surfaces, it is also known to provide a molded load bearing surface that is oriented after molding to provide the desired load bearing surface characteristics. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/423,540, filed by Coffield et al, on Jun. 12, 2006, entitled LOAD BEARING SURFACE, and published as United States Patent Application Publication 2006/0267258 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
There remains an ongoing desire to provide a load bearing surface construction that provides the desired balance between cost and performance for different applications.